The project team consisted of Mark O’Rourke from the Curriculum Innovation Unit at Victoria University and a number of staff from the Faculty of Technical Trades Innovation including Daniel Bonnici, Mark Thomson, Mark Courtney, Justin Maddy and Peter Stanley. The industry partner for the project was Oztron Media. The lead organisation Victoria University (VU) is a multi-sector institution delivering higher education and TAFE programs from certificate level courses through to advanced diploma, degree, or postgraduate qualifications. The University has over 50,000 students enrolled at its campuses, primarily located in the western region of Melbourne and at international sites. The aim of the University is for its teaching, training, research, scholarship and partnerships to be locally relevant and globally significant. VU’s vision is to be excellent, engaged and accessible and aims to be internationally recognised for leadership in:
empowering students to grow their capabilities and transform their lives
engaging with industry and community to make the world a better place, through the creation, sharing and use of new knowledge.
VU has a distinctive approach to curriculum, the student experience, research and knowledge exchange, and engagement with industry and the community. Industry partner Oztron Media has a wide range of expertise in creating digital learning environments with over five years experience in the field, with a range of clients in higher education and the corporate world. Oztron has built a wide range of systems which allow the rapid deployment and implementation of 3 dimensional online learning environments.
The Project involved developing and evaluating a games-based learning tool that addresses curriculum material for the unit of study “CPCCOHS1001A Work safely in the construction industry”. The project addressed trialling innovative programs using high capacity connection as games based tools are only being recently used in education, and perhaps are at the cutting edge of interactive content. Given the rich media content of games including real time rendered scenes, there is a requirement for a high capacity connection. The project also addresses facilitating VET programs, because games based learning is a new way to deliver VET content and facilitate interactions among teachers, learners and industry. The possibilities of games based learning also allows RTO’s to be prepared for expansion of the delivery of training and assessment services, as games enable asynchronous learning in the workplace or networked synchronous training in 3D immersive environments.
The main objective of the Project was to develop and evaluate an innovative customised games-based learning tool that addresses particular pedagogical requirements in industry by offering alternative strategies for content delivery. The Project addresses curriculum material for theunit of study “CPCCOHS1001A Work safely in the construction industry” which is the assessment requirement for White Cardcertification. This certification has been selected because competency in Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) is fundamental to the successful sustainability of the construction workforce, however allowing trainees to gain real world experience onsite presents industry and training institutes training institutes with resource and logistic difficulties, while exposing personnel to potential risk.
Computer-based simulator games are well suited to delivering this training because the interactive game environment engages participants by making them active agents in the learning experience, and offers a virtual reality that supplies rewards and builds expertise, yet provides a safe place in which to learn and explore. However, this training is commonly delivered in disengaging, paper-based ways that lead to lack of retention and transfer, especially by the kinds of students who prefer experiential modes of learning (typically young males).
The project did meet its scope by completing the game and trialling it with students from the Certificate 3 in Construction who undertake the White Card certification as part of their training.
Our team and partner organisation have had extensive experience in multimedia production and online systems in the educational sector. Authoring rich media content for online educational environments must always take into consideration the capacity of the end user to download the content. At Victoria University our offshore students are often still using dial up connections and the potential to deliver rich interactive media is somewhat restricted. Our experience in tailoring content to the end user was a major factor in choosing this project. Engaging users is the primary concern of our teams’ development and research pursuits and when we sat around and thought about the possibilities of high speed broadband technologies we dreamed of highly interactive 3D environments where multiple users are connected, interacting and learning together guided by facilitators and tutors. The potential of the project is still being realized, as we continue in the development and dissemination of the games technologies disseminated and implemented with the rolling out of NBN. The competencies of our team were suited to delivering e learning with respect to:
The hardware requirements of computers in that we understand the complexities of publishing to multiple formats and the requisite budgets to do this successfully in game production. The processor power of different formats impacts directly on what is possible with 3D graphics quality, interactivity and level design. This informed the choices during development. In addition we have tested and redeveloped games in the past to meet the processor capacity of PC’s in educational institutions, so were well aware of the authoring constraints to make a game work on lower end computers.
Software choices for the games engine used in the project was a product of reflections by the team from a number of past productions. The games engine that was chosen, Unity3D is a highly flexible platform with multiplayer and networked capabilities. This includes the Asset Server software, an extension component of the Unity 3D games engine which allows developers to access an online collaborative development, software version control and communication mechanisms for game asset development. This system supplies an adaptable workflow that ensures data integrity for game development projects.
The online issues that needed to be addressed included the back end configuration of the server to receive user data and post to a MySQL database. Data is then presented and accessed by login by administrators (researchers, tutors, teachers). The user data enables scoring of the user’s performance along with authentication data. Delivery of the game either as a downloadable learning object or as streamed content through a browser has been achieved. The web development skills of the development team ie PHP, MySQL, javascript has facilitated the online and networked delivery of the Unity3D game.
The project began with a lot of enthusiasm, as the NBN team marketed the details through press releases. The exposure reached a diverse audience, with industry and RTO’s expressing a keen interest. A number of articles appeared in industry magazines (Quarry magazine, Engineers Australia). However, underlying this enthusiasm is a heavily politicized debate about the delivery of the White Card Certificate. Although CPCCOHS1001A Work safely in the construction industry is a single Unit from a nationally accredited training package, the delivery is overseen by state Workplace Safety authorities. Each State authority differs in their strategies for ensuring RTO compliance to ASQA legislation, and these differences are a point of contention. Much of the concern with delivery of white card is not so much about the form of the assessment or even how the content is delivered but more about the invigilation. There is anxiety amongst some workplace safety authorities and industry boards that some states are delivering white card certification online without being able to prove who is actually undertaking the assessment. Some of the concerns expressed in conversation with industry boards, trainers and worksafe authorities about what the project was trying to achieve was based in this anxiety. These were addressed by explaining the premise of the project was to deliver critical training in an engaging way, and maximize knowledge transfer through a media rich interactive experience.
The project differed to other projects in the NBN E-Learning Program as the focus was on the development of a network connected immersive 3D computer training game. The game development phase took up the majority of the project timeframe and only in the last month of the project was the game trialled with learners. This trial took place using Victoria University’s high-speed AARnet connection, with the aim being to roll out the game to relevant NBN hubs once they become operational. This will be facilitated by the publishing of the game on a dedicated website and distribution by other RTO’s that deliver the White Card certificate. The speeds of the AARnet connection at the Newport campus of Victoria University are indicated below:
This was adequate for the downloading of the game and transfer of data required for recording user performance in the game trials.
The development and refinement of the game was an important part of the project and it is important that this is considered in discussion of our journey. The project adopted a design based research approach which focuses on design, research and practice concurrently. The methodology was proposed in order to examine educational activity in the classroom and gain insight into “how, when, and why innovations work in practice”(Dede, Nelson et al. 2004). When applied to the application of technology in education it actively involves: students acquiring skills or knowledge; teachers or facilitators; learning support tools; and technological resources. Design based research has been chosen for the methodology as it recognises “technology as a system beyond its tools” and can allow the research outcomes to have greater impact on educational practice, with the aim to build a “stronger connection between educational research and realworld problems”(Amiel and Reeves 2008).
The development of the game involved testing phases using a broadband network in the sharing and consolidation of game resources, and the capturing of player data. The asset server software of the Unity3D game engine enables developers to work collaboratively in a network managed asset production workflow. These assets include 3D models, animations, programmed interactions and game level designs. The network speed of the development environment was: ping: 21ms download: 13.17Mbps upload: 0.84Mbps
Game development is a costly and time consuming process and when the project was initially envisaged there was potential for additional internal funding from Victoria University. With the recent drastic funding cuts to the Victorian TAFE sector, a lot of VET programs at Victoria University have been put under threat, and revenue normally allocated to innovations in delivery has been reallocated to meet operational needs. This impacted on the development of the game, in particular allocation of the budget to the porting of the game to iPad and Android mobile devices. This was planned to be undertaken by a second industry partner who had expertise in the iOS(iPad/iPhone) authoring environment, but the limited budget prevented inclusion of more than one industry partner
The cohort of students undertaking the White Card qualification ranges from individuals walking off the street and enrolling in the 6 hours of training needed to enable them to legally work on building sites, right through to Cert 3 students who undertake the training as part of an apprenticeship. There was a hesitancy in trainers to trial the game on the students enrolling only to get the White Card, as there were concerns that the trialling of new delivery methods could pose a credibility risk for Victoria University, and be bad public exposure and marketing for the institution to offer “untested” innovations in delivery. For this reason the trials were restricted to students undertaking the Certficate 3 in Construction (Carpentry).
Teachers were enthusiastic about the project from the beginning as workplace safety has been a difficult subject to engage students with. The teachers understood the learning styles of their student cohort yet struggled to find a way to address the workplace safety content with the hands-on methods that work best for VET learners. The benefits of a games-based delivery approach is that it offers an agent-driven, experiential, process-based learning method. This style of delivery is particularly suited to VET learners who are:
more visual than verbal, in that they like to watch and see rather than read and listen
hands-on learners who prefer to learn by doing and by practising
characterised by socially contextualised learning where they like to learn in groups with other learners
not self-directed learners, but like to have instructor guidance and a clear understanding of what is required of them.
Running the program included both the development of the game and the trials undertaken with the students. The development of the game involved communicating with the content experts and collecting curriculum and assessment material including powerpoint presentations, other printed resources and tests that were used as the assessment tool for White Card certification at Victoria University. These were then examined and mapped against scripted game scenarios in order to build a game that addressed the performance criteria in CPCCOHS1001A Work safely in the construction industrywhilst creating a virtual experience of being on a building site, encountering hazards, learning through gameplay and having fun.
During the building of the game we realised that the interpretation of curriculum material by the game developers required authentication by the content experts, as we often found that what the development team thought were ordinary objects or situation on a construction site often turned out to be hazard when seen through the eyes of a builder. Similarly the finer points of hazard mitigation and appropriate response in terms of who needed to be notified and who was responsible required clarification. An example of this was whether the site supervisor needed to be notified of particular hazards, or whether it was up to the individual worker to take up the responsibility of enforcing safe behaviours amongst colleagues. There was much discussion over this point as one trainer pointed out that unskilled labourers on the site often felt intimidated, or that it was not their role to tell a qualified tradesperson how to do their job, even if it involved unsafe work practices. This workplace culture could be viewed as reinforcing patterns of unsafe behaviour, where older more skilled trades people create dangerous situations, especially to inexperienced workers, by not adopting current safety recommendations and continuing with unsafe practices. Where the young inexperienced workers do not say anything because of this workplace culture, the lack of action puts them and others at risk. We decided that the gameplay should encourage active intervention with respect to targeting other workers’ unsafe practices, even though in reality this may not occur. Our decision was supported by one of the trades teachers who pointed out that a difference often exists on building sites between older workers who are from a risk taking era in respect to workplace safety, and a more informed younger generation who are more safety conscious.
The timing of the trials posed a logistical issue in that the development time was very short, compared to most immersive 3D games productions, due to the NBN project deadlines. This limited our capacity to extensively undertake usability and playability testing of the game before the trial. The trial provided an opportunity for playability testing, but this was less than ideal, as the repercussions of a bad user experience while playing the game would translate to a bad pedagogical experience for the user. So our goal of making learning implicit to the game playing experience would be undermined if the game playing experience is less than optimal. Fortunately the programming bugs in the game discovered during the trials did not impact negatively on the learning experience. However there was a significant feedback mechanism in the game narrative that was not optimized, as the game design did not anticipate the level of gameplaying competency of the users in the trials, which meant users bypassed the feedback because they .This was not an issue for the pedagogical goal of the game, but did result in the user missing out on experiencing graphic death sequences, which while being a penalty for choosing the wrong answer, are fun and shocking to encounter.
In the trials the game was quickly downloaded and played by the students, and network connectivity on the AARnet connection supplied a seamless response for data being uploaded without any delay. With the Unity3D software there is a noticeable delay when data is being posted to a server on slower connections, but this was not evident for the White Card game played at the Newport campus of VU. The capacity of the hardware to cope with real time rendered 3D content was surprising. Other projects we have built in the past have required computers with faster i5 or i7 processors to run the games, however with the experience from these past projects the development team was able to build the White Card game so it ran successfully on 3 year old older computers with core 2 duo chips.
The game trials were very successful. They were conducted with 18 students enrolled in the Certificate 3 in Construction(Carpentry). Students were first introduced to the concept of games based learning, what we were trying to achieve and how high bandwidth can facilitate the delivery of highly interactive immersive training environments. The students then launched into the game while the trades teacher walked around the class and discussed with the students the decisions they were making as they played the game. The discussion among students and between students and the teacher while the game was played were all focused on identifying hazards in the virtual construction site, who the hazards should be reported to and what action is required to control the hazard. This discussion was animated and engaged as the student navigated through the virtual environment and avoided getting the wrong answer and being presented with graphic death sequences of their work colleagues. The pay off for success in the game was a high score. This score consisted of the amount of money earned on the job and the number of deaths caused due to negligence.
The student engagement with work safety issues was a highlight of the trial, as it is one of the most difficult subjects to deliver to students. One teacher reported that it was not unusual to get students wandering out of the class, and not returning during break when work safety was delivered in a more traditional powerpoint presentation style. When the game was delivered there was animated peer to peer interactions and lively discussion with the teacher.
Involving teachers in the development of the project was critical for it’s success. The teachers had a sense of ownership over the game when it was delivered. Often with technology older generations feel that younger people are innately adept at using digital tools, and there is a sense of alienation when confronted with demonstrations of the latest technologies. However the benefit of using games in education is that they do not require a high degree of digital literacy to use. The White Card game has been designed with a tutorial component that introduces the navigation and operation of the game. Once this is easily mastered, the game challenges are all about problem solving and decision making, not about the functioning or application of technology. This meant that teachers could speak with authority when students played the game, as they were able to express their content expertise through the game environment. This gave them a sense of ownership over the game as a learning resource.
The project has successfully accomplished the development of a games-based learning tool. Recently there is a lot of interest in games-based learning as it has been recognised that well designed games can cultivate problem solving skills and understanding through the inherent characteristics of gameplay, which include being pleasantly frustrating, offering safe havens to explore and learn, offering contextualised skill development and supplying information on-demand (Gee 2007).
The difficulties posed for developing games based learning tools include production and distribution costs, buy in from teachers and network capacity for a truly immersive connected experience. Games are not cheap to develop, but we have arrived at a point in time where the availability of cheap flexible production software and online resources mean that it is now feasible for smaller educational products to be developed, without requiring a multi million dollar investment that only entertainment based games can hope to offer a return on. It is also now feasible to distribute large file size games easily via high bandwidth broadband, rather than through the packaging up of DVD’s and establishing a hard copy distribution system. Getting buy in from teachers for the project was not difficult, because the past experience of using new technologies, in particular 3D environments, has proved positive for teaching trades. Games based learning is also quite different to adopting a new LMS or needing to configure other web based systems, in that it requires almost no digital literacy, something which is quite challenging to acquire for many trades teachers. The opportunities of using games based learning for the institution are enormous, especially in an environment of increasing competition for new student enrolments. Engaging students is fundamental for retention, and the ability to deliver rich media content to students nationally (and internationally) via the NBN with interactive engaging networked tools is critical.
The games production team developed many skills during the project, this included:
Authoring games to meet pedagogical needs and coming to understand the tension between making an engaging game and addressing learning outcomes
Evaluation methods for determining effectiveness of games based learning including qualitative data collection- specifically listening to the end user.
The importance of documenting the game development process
Making learning in games intrinsic via gameplay, rather than through conventional multiple choice/quiz based systems.
Making learning fun!
The project management team developed skills in managing outsourcing of project deliverables in order to meet tight budget and timelines.
The main outcome of the project was the development of an immersive first person shooter style computer game for delivery of curriculum material for the unit of study “CPCCOHS1001A Work safely in the construction industry”(White Card), and data from trials to show how effective the game was for engaging young workers in workplace safety issues on construction sites. The project also allowed teachers to take ownership of innovative new technology learning tools for use in classroom settings.
The outcomes were measured through the delivery and access to a media rich interactive teaching and learning resource, and the capacity to authenticate user details and collect data via high speed broadband connection. 18 students undertook the trial and through focus group discussion and individual survey data and interviews, there was agreement that games based learning, as delivered over a broadband connection, was an engaging and more effective way to learn the course content than traditional text based presentation style delivery. Following the trial students undertook the White Card assessment, normally delivered after 6 hours of traditional training, and all achieved a pass.
The project created an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of games-based learning. There is currently a lot of literature about the impact that games can have in the educational space, but there is little evidence to show they are effective for knowledge transfer. This project has created a unique opportunity to provide data to examine how games can engage VET learners and provide an effective alternative delivery resource.
The project was successful in what it aimed to achieve. There were external factors as the lack of additional funding previously mentioned that constrained the full exploration of networked immersive environments on multiple platforms, particularly mobile devices. However the team is committed to taking what has been developed and forging industry linkages to undertake further development and research into the possibilities of the technology. In particular this will target delivery to regional and remote locations, including construction workers building infrastructure to meet the demands of the resources boom. As the NBN is rolled out the possibilities for the White Card Game to cater for customised responsive training anywhere in Australia, reducing the need for people to move from where they live and work to gain qualifications will be evident.
Our project has involved educators in the development of a games based learning tool, and has shown how technology can empower teachers by equipping them to meet the needs of today’s learners. We have found that engaging content experts in the production is a critical aspect to introducing technology to teachers, especially with tools like games which can be perceived as less than “serious” when delivering learning content.
Games are expensive to produce and unless the project manager has a good idea of what is required in the production and able to carefully map pedagogical requirements to the game scenarios and gameplay, such projects can get bogged down in the development team spending excessive time perfecting animations or getting textures photo-realistic, which can make a game look a little more dynamic, but will not improve learning outcomes. Similarly if instructional design becomes the focus of the game, gameplay suffers with the tool becoming less than engaging and ending up being little more than a series of animated quizzes or multiple choice questions where the learning is explicit, rather than implicit to the gameplay.
Game based training technology has the capacity to meet mass global training needs and with the appropriate investment, NBN connection and evaluative data proving the efficacy of this alternative educational resource, a significant commercial opportunity exists for Australia’s educational industry. An example of this potential is that 400 million people are estimated to require VET training in India in the next 20 years.
The game developed in this project will be made available to other RTOs and the team is keen to be involved in evaluation of learners as the resource is rolled out. We are keen to see how it performs on Local Area Networks, or through high speed broadband connections. We are deploying the game via a dedicated website which will have the requisite branding and creative commons licensing. The site will also contain teaching and evaluation strategies for games based learning. Our project demonstrates a model for serious games development involving educators, content specialists, industry and games developers, and is able to guide future games based educational delivery.
Amiel, T. and T. C. Reeves (2008). "Design-based research and educational technology: Rethinking technology and the research agenda." Educational Technology & Society 11(4): 29-40.
Dede, C., B. Nelson, et al. (2004). "Design-based Research Strategies for Studying Situated Learning in a Multi-user Virtual Environment." Proceedings of the sixth international conference on the learning sciences: 158-165.
Gee, P. G. (2007). Good Video Games + Good Learning. New York, Peter Lang.
Smith, P. and J. Dalton (2005) Getting to grips with learning styles
The project team consisted of Mark O’Rourke from the Curriculum Innovation Unit at Victoria University and a number of staff from the Faculty of Technical Trades Innovation including Daniel Bonnici, Mark Thomson, Mark Courtney, Justin Maddy and Peter Stanley. The industry partner for the project was Oztron Media.
The lead organisation Victoria University (VU) is a multi-sector institution delivering higher education and TAFE programs from certificate level courses through to advanced diploma, degree, or postgraduate qualifications.
The University has over 50,000 students enrolled at its campuses, primarily located in the western region of Melbourne and at international sites. The aim of the University is for its teaching, training, research, scholarship and partnerships to be locally relevant and globally significant.
VU’s vision is to be excellent, engaged and accessible and aims to be internationally recognised for leadership in:
- empowering students to grow their capabilities and transform their lives
- engaging with industry and community to make the world a better place, through the creation, sharing and use of new knowledge.
VU has a distinctive approach to curriculum, the student experience, research and knowledge exchange, and engagement with industry and the community.Industry partner Oztron Media has a wide range of expertise in creating digital learning environments with over five years experience in the field, with a range of clients in higher education and the corporate world. Oztron has built a wide range of systems which allow the rapid deployment and implementation of 3 dimensional online learning environments.
The Project involved developing and evaluating a games-based learning tool that addresses curriculum material for the unit of study “CPCCOHS1001A Work safely in the construction industry”. The project addressed trialling innovative programs using high capacity connection as games based tools are only being recently used in education, and perhaps are at the cutting edge of interactive content. Given the rich media content of games including real time rendered scenes, there is a requirement for a high capacity connection. The project also addresses facilitating VET programs, because games based learning is a new way to deliver VET content and facilitate interactions among teachers, learners and industry. The possibilities of games based learning also allows RTO’s to be prepared for expansion of the delivery of training and assessment services, as games enable asynchronous learning in the workplace or networked synchronous training in 3D immersive environments.
The main objective of the Project was to develop and evaluate an innovative customised
games-based learning tool that addresses particular pedagogical requirements in industry by offering alternative strategies for content delivery. The Project addresses curriculum material for theunit of study “CPCCOHS1001A Work safely in the construction industry” which is the assessment requirement for White Cardcertification. This certification has been selected because competency in Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) is fundamental to the successful sustainability of the construction workforce, however allowing trainees to gain real world experience onsite presents industry and training institutes training institutes with resource and logistic difficulties, while exposing personnel to potential risk.
Computer-based simulator games are well suited to delivering this training because the interactive game environment engages participants by making them active agents in the learning experience, and offers a virtual reality that supplies rewards and builds expertise, yet provides a safe place in which to learn and explore. However, this training is commonly delivered in disengaging, paper-based ways that lead to lack of retention and transfer, especially by the kinds of students who prefer experiential modes of learning (typically young males).
The project did meet its scope by completing the game and trialling it with students from the Certificate 3 in Construction who undertake the White Card certification as part of their training.
Our team and partner organisation have had extensive experience in multimedia production and online systems in the educational sector. Authoring rich media content for online educational environments must always take into consideration the capacity of the end user to download the content. At Victoria University our offshore students are often still using dial up connections and the potential to deliver rich interactive media is somewhat restricted.
Our experience in tailoring content to the end user was a major factor in choosing this project. Engaging users is the primary concern of our teams’ development and research pursuits and when we sat around and thought about the possibilities of high speed broadband technologies we dreamed of highly interactive 3D environments where multiple users are connected, interacting and learning together guided by facilitators and tutors. The potential of the project is still being realized, as we continue in the development and dissemination of the games technologies disseminated and implemented with the rolling out of NBN.
The competencies of our team were suited to delivering e learning with respect to:
The project began with a lot of enthusiasm, as the NBN team marketed the details through press releases. The exposure reached a diverse audience, with industry and RTO’s expressing a keen interest. A number of articles appeared in industry magazines (Quarry magazine, Engineers Australia). However, underlying this enthusiasm is a heavily politicized debate about the delivery of the White Card Certificate. Although CPCCOHS1001A Work safely in the construction industry is a single Unit from a nationally accredited training package, the delivery is overseen by state Workplace Safety authorities. Each State authority differs in their strategies for ensuring RTO compliance to ASQA legislation, and these differences are a point of contention. Much of the concern with delivery of white card is not so much about the form of the assessment or even how the content is delivered but more about the invigilation. There is anxiety amongst some workplace safety authorities and industry boards that some states are delivering white card certification online without being able to prove who is actually undertaking the assessment. Some of the concerns expressed in conversation with industry boards, trainers and worksafe authorities about what the project was trying to achieve was based in this anxiety. These were addressed by explaining the premise of the project was to deliver critical training in an engaging way, and maximize knowledge transfer through a media rich interactive experience.
The project differed to other projects in the NBN E-Learning Program as the focus was on the development of a network connected immersive 3D computer training game. The game development phase took up the majority of the project timeframe and only in the last month of the project was the game trialled with learners. This trial took place using Victoria University’s high-speed AARnet connection, with the aim being to roll out the game to relevant NBN hubs once they become operational. This will be facilitated by the publishing of the game on a dedicated website and distribution by other RTO’s that deliver the White Card certificate. The speeds of the AARnet connection at the Newport campus of Victoria University are indicated below:
This was adequate for the downloading of the game and transfer of data required for recording user performance in the game trials.
The development and refinement of the game was an important part of the project and it is important that this is considered in discussion of our journey. The project adopted a design based research approach which focuses on design, research and practice concurrently. The methodology was proposed in order to examine educational activity in the classroom and gain insight into “how, when, and why innovations work in practice”(Dede, Nelson et al. 2004). When applied to the application of technology in education it actively involves: students acquiring skills or knowledge; teachers or facilitators; learning support tools; and technological resources. Design based research has been chosen for the methodology as it recognises “technology as a system beyond its tools” and can allow the research outcomes to have greater impact on educational practice, with the aim to build a “stronger connection between educational research and realworld problems”(Amiel and Reeves 2008).
The development of the game involved testing phases using a broadband network in the sharing and consolidation of game resources, and the capturing of player data. The asset server software of the Unity3D game engine enables developers to work collaboratively in a network managed asset production workflow. These assets include 3D models, animations, programmed interactions and game level designs. The network speed of the development environment was: ping: 21ms download: 13.17Mbps upload: 0.84Mbps
Game development is a costly and time consuming process and when the project was initially envisaged there was potential for additional internal funding from Victoria University. With the recent drastic funding cuts to the Victorian TAFE sector, a lot of VET programs at Victoria University have been put under threat, and revenue normally allocated to innovations in delivery has been reallocated to meet operational needs. This impacted on the development of the game, in particular allocation of the budget to the porting of the game to iPad and Android mobile devices. This was planned to be undertaken by a second industry partner who had expertise in the iOS(iPad/iPhone) authoring environment, but the limited budget prevented inclusion of more than one industry partner
The cohort of students undertaking the White Card qualification ranges from individuals walking off the street and enrolling in the 6 hours of training needed to enable them to legally work on building sites, right through to Cert 3 students who undertake the training as part of an apprenticeship. There was a hesitancy in trainers to trial the game on the students enrolling only to get the White Card, as there were concerns that the trialling of new delivery methods could pose a credibility risk for Victoria University, and be bad public exposure and marketing for the institution to offer “untested” innovations in delivery. For this reason the trials were restricted to students undertaking the Certficate 3 in Construction (Carpentry).
Teachers were enthusiastic about the project from the beginning as workplace safety has been a difficult subject to engage students with. The teachers understood the learning styles of their student cohort yet struggled to find a way to address the workplace safety content with the hands-on methods that work best for VET learners. The benefits of a games-based delivery approach is that it offers an agent-driven, experiential, process-based learning method. This style of delivery is particularly suited to VET learners who are:
- more visual than verbal, in that they like to watch and see rather than read and listen
- hands-on learners who prefer to learn by doing and by practising
- characterised by socially contextualised learning where they like to learn in groups with other learners
- not self-directed learners, but like to have instructor guidance and a clear understanding of what is required of them.
(Smith and Dalton 2005)Running the program included both the development of the game and the trials undertaken with the students. The development of the game involved communicating with the content experts and collecting curriculum and assessment material including powerpoint presentations, other printed resources and tests that were used as the assessment tool for White Card certification at Victoria University. These were then examined and mapped against scripted game scenarios in order to build a game that addressed the performance criteria in CPCCOHS1001A Work safely in the construction industrywhilst creating a virtual experience of being on a building site, encountering hazards, learning through gameplay and having fun.
During the building of the game we realised that the interpretation of curriculum material by the game developers required authentication by the content experts, as we often found that what the development team thought were ordinary objects or situation on a construction site often turned out to be hazard when seen through the eyes of a builder. Similarly the finer points of hazard mitigation and appropriate response in terms of who needed to be notified and who was responsible required clarification. An example of this was whether the site supervisor needed to be notified of particular hazards, or whether it was up to the individual worker to take up the responsibility of enforcing safe behaviours amongst colleagues. There was much discussion over this point as one trainer pointed out that unskilled labourers on the site often felt intimidated, or that it was not their role to tell a qualified tradesperson how to do their job, even if it involved unsafe work practices. This workplace culture could be viewed as reinforcing patterns of unsafe behaviour, where older more skilled trades people create dangerous situations, especially to inexperienced workers, by not adopting current safety recommendations and continuing with unsafe practices. Where the young inexperienced workers do not say anything because of this workplace culture, the lack of action puts them and others at risk. We decided that the gameplay should encourage active intervention with respect to targeting other workers’ unsafe practices, even though in reality this may not occur. Our decision was supported by one of the trades teachers who pointed out that a difference often exists on building sites between older workers who are from a risk taking era in respect to workplace safety, and a more informed younger generation who are more safety conscious.
The timing of the trials posed a logistical issue in that the development time was very short, compared to most immersive 3D games productions, due to the NBN project deadlines. This limited our capacity to extensively undertake usability and playability testing of the game before the trial. The trial provided an opportunity for playability testing, but this was less than ideal, as the repercussions of a bad user experience while playing the game would translate to a bad pedagogical experience for the user. So our goal of making learning implicit to the game playing experience would be undermined if the game playing experience is less than optimal. Fortunately the programming bugs in the game discovered during the trials did not impact negatively on the learning experience. However there was a significant feedback mechanism in the game narrative that was not optimized, as the game design did not anticipate the level of gameplaying competency of the users in the trials, which meant users bypassed the feedback because they .This was not an issue for the pedagogical goal of the game, but did result in the user missing out on experiencing graphic death sequences, which while being a penalty for choosing the wrong answer, are fun and shocking to encounter.
In the trials the game was quickly downloaded and played by the students, and network connectivity on the AARnet connection supplied a seamless response for data being uploaded without any delay. With the Unity3D software there is a noticeable delay when data is being posted to a server on slower connections, but this was not evident for the White Card game played at the Newport campus of VU. The capacity of the hardware to cope with real time rendered 3D content was surprising. Other projects we have built in the past have required computers with faster i5 or i7 processors to run the games, however with the experience from these past projects the development team was able to build the White Card game so it ran successfully on 3 year old older computers with core 2 duo chips.
The game trials were very successful. They were conducted with 18 students enrolled in the Certificate 3 in Construction(Carpentry). Students were first introduced to the concept of games based learning, what we were trying to achieve and how high bandwidth can facilitate the delivery of highly interactive immersive training environments. The students then launched into the game while the trades teacher walked around the class and discussed with the students the decisions they were making as they played the game. The discussion among students and between students and the teacher while the game was played were all focused on identifying hazards in the virtual construction site, who the hazards should be reported to and what action is required to control the hazard. This discussion was animated and engaged as the student navigated through the virtual environment and avoided getting the wrong answer and being presented with graphic death sequences of their work colleagues. The pay off for success in the game was a high score. This score consisted of the amount of money earned on the job and the number of deaths caused due to negligence.
The student engagement with work safety issues was a highlight of the trial, as it is one of the most difficult subjects to deliver to students. One teacher reported that it was not unusual to get students wandering out of the class, and not returning during break when work safety was delivered in a more traditional powerpoint presentation style. When the game was delivered there was animated peer to peer interactions and lively discussion with the teacher.
Involving teachers in the development of the project was critical for it’s success. The teachers had a sense of ownership over the game when it was delivered. Often with technology older generations feel that younger people are innately adept at using digital tools, and there is a sense of alienation when confronted with demonstrations of the latest technologies. However the benefit of using games in education is that they do not require a high degree of digital literacy to use. The White Card game has been designed with a tutorial component that introduces the navigation and operation of the game. Once this is easily mastered, the game challenges are all about problem solving and decision making, not about the functioning or application of technology. This meant that teachers could speak with authority when students played the game, as they were able to express their content expertise through the game environment. This gave them a sense of ownership over the game as a learning resource.
The project has successfully accomplished the development of a games-based learning tool. Recently there is a lot of interest in games-based learning as it has been recognised that well designed games can cultivate problem solving skills and understanding through the inherent characteristics of gameplay, which include being pleasantly frustrating, offering safe havens to explore and learn, offering contextualised skill development and supplying information on-demand (Gee 2007).
The difficulties posed for developing games based learning tools include production and distribution costs, buy in from teachers and network capacity for a truly immersive connected experience. Games are not cheap to develop, but we have arrived at a point in time where the availability of cheap flexible production software and online resources mean that it is now feasible for smaller educational products to be developed, without requiring a multi million dollar investment that only entertainment based games can hope to offer a return on. It is also now feasible to distribute large file size games easily via high bandwidth broadband, rather than through the packaging up of DVD’s and establishing a hard copy distribution system. Getting buy in from teachers for the project was not difficult, because the past experience of using new technologies, in particular 3D environments, has proved positive for teaching trades. Games based learning is also quite different to adopting a new LMS or needing to configure other web based systems, in that it requires almost no digital literacy, something which is quite challenging to acquire for many trades teachers. The opportunities of using games based learning for the institution are enormous, especially in an environment of increasing competition for new student enrolments. Engaging students is fundamental for retention, and the ability to deliver rich media content to students nationally (and internationally) via the NBN with interactive engaging networked tools is critical.
The games production team developed many skills during the project, this included:
The project management team developed skills in managing outsourcing of project deliverables in order to meet tight budget and timelines.
The main outcome of the project was the development of an immersive first person shooter style computer game for delivery of curriculum material for the unit of study “CPCCOHS1001A Work safely in the construction industry”(White Card), and data from trials to show how effective the game was for engaging young workers in workplace safety issues on construction sites. The project also allowed teachers to take ownership of innovative new technology learning tools for use in classroom settings.
You can view and download a free copy of the Whitecard Game here
The outcomes were measured through the delivery and access to a media rich interactive teaching and learning resource, and the capacity to authenticate user details and collect data via high speed broadband connection. 18 students undertook the trial and through focus group discussion and individual survey data and interviews, there was agreement that games based learning, as delivered over a broadband connection, was an engaging and more effective way to learn the course content than traditional text based presentation style delivery. Following the trial students undertook the White Card assessment, normally delivered after 6 hours of traditional training, and all achieved a pass.
The project created an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of games-based learning. There is currently a lot of literature about the impact that games can have in the educational space, but there is little evidence to show they are effective for knowledge transfer. This project has created a unique opportunity to provide data to examine how games can engage VET learners and provide an effective alternative delivery resource.
The project was successful in what it aimed to achieve. There were external factors as the lack of additional funding previously mentioned that constrained the full exploration of networked immersive environments on multiple platforms, particularly mobile devices. However the team is committed to taking what has been developed and forging industry linkages to undertake further development and research into the possibilities of the technology. In particular this will target delivery to regional and remote locations, including construction workers building infrastructure to meet the demands of the resources boom. As the NBN is rolled out the possibilities for the White Card Game to cater for customised responsive training anywhere in Australia, reducing the need
for people to move from where they live and work to gain qualifications will be evident.
Our project has involved educators in the development of a games based learning tool, and has shown how technology can empower teachers by equipping them to meet the needs of today’s learners. We have found that engaging content experts in the production is a critical aspect to introducing technology to teachers, especially with tools like games which can be perceived as less than “serious” when delivering learning content.
Games are expensive to produce and unless the project manager has a good idea of what is required in the production and able to carefully map pedagogical requirements to the game scenarios and gameplay, such projects can get bogged down in the development team spending excessive time perfecting animations or getting textures photo-realistic, which can make a game look a little more dynamic, but will not improve learning outcomes. Similarly if instructional design becomes the focus of the game, gameplay suffers with the tool becoming less than engaging and ending up being little more than a series of animated quizzes or multiple choice questions where the learning is explicit, rather than implicit to the gameplay.
Game based training technology has the capacity to meet mass global training needs and with the appropriate investment, NBN connection and evaluative data proving the efficacy of this alternative educational resource, a significant commercial opportunity exists for Australia’s educational industry. An example of this potential is that 400 million people are estimated to require VET training in India in the next 20 years.
The game developed in this project will be made available to other RTOs and the team is keen to be involved in evaluation of learners as the resource is rolled out. We are keen to see how it performs on Local Area Networks, or through high speed broadband connections. We are deploying the game via a dedicated website which will have the requisite branding and creative commons licensing. The site will also contain teaching and evaluation strategies for games based learning. Our project demonstrates a model for serious games development involving educators, content specialists, industry and games developers, and is able to guide future games based educational delivery.
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Dede, C., B. Nelson, et al. (2004). "Design-based Research Strategies for Studying Situated Learning in a Multi-user Virtual Environment." Proceedings of the sixth international conference on the learning sciences: 158-165.
Gee, P. G. (2007). Good Video Games + Good Learning. New York, Peter Lang.
Smith, P. and J. Dalton (2005) Getting to grips with learning styles